CHANGING FORTUNES

 CHANGING FORTUNES

Years frog leaped so fast like they had been invited to a feast. Joshua's life had not changed much three years on. Daniel had performed well in KCSE and had just begun his studies at University of Nairobi school of law. He was so focused and kept the parents hopes high that they could some day come out of the shack, out of their impoverished lives.On a particular day as he was serving his customers came Ogada, one of Joshua's regular customers. "Mimi niletee Ugali na Omena" he ordered. "Hapa sio dunga beach Kisumu bwana Ogada. Hapa ni city ya keki na soda" replied Joshua with a wide smile that signalled the camaraderie which the two had built over the years. Ogada had been ordering ugali for a long time now but today, ogada's voice kept coming to Joshua's mind even after he had closed shop. 'Why not make ugali for Ogada?' , 'How many other people would be interested in hot dishes?' 'Should I give it a try?' Questions kept coming to his mind. Joshua couldn't sleep that night and eventually, he promised himself to give it a try one day. When he shared the experience and the idea with his wife, she was very positive about it. She promised to make food at home and transport to Joshua's place a few minutes before lunch hour if that idea would materialise. It looked like they had a plan. But first, Joshua took the next few weeks getting his main customer's opinions on whether they would love hot dishes instead of the usual sodas and cakes. Many were for the idea and Joshua felt like time was ripe to give it a try. So, the day was set and the number of interested customers were noted. Around 20 people were. To make it simple, only one menu was on offer, Ugali, kales and some beef. With help from her daughter Hellen, Mrs Joshua arrived on time and found some customers already waiting. They were all served, all of them that had ordered. They enjoyed their lunch better than before to an extent that some placed daily standing orders. That day, Joshua's family made twice as much money as they would make on any good business day. It looked like the business was set to take a new direction. The order increased and so did the variety of offers on the menu. Weekends became even busier for the family. They would sit together to clean up cereals that would be cooked in the coming week. Mike, Hellen and the little ones, all got involved. Daniel would most weekends come by from campus to help because work became more and more as days crawled by. The family earnings also begun to go up and so, quite drastically. Around 4 months into the business, Joshua rented two more single rooms within their Line Saba area, just a stone throw distance away from their home. One room was where they did the cooking while the other was their store for dry foodstuffs. For the reason that there were no food joints near his work place, Joshua's new venture boomed and family fortunes begun to change. ' Ogada was a messenger from God' Joshua concluded in his mind but also told him so many times after.

@Stephen Mungai